


A Snake in Emo's Clothing

by DragonSaphiraReads



Series: The Selfish Protector [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Sympathetic Deceit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 19:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18372764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSaphiraReads/pseuds/DragonSaphiraReads
Summary: Thomas has a new problem, and he calls his sides to discuss it. But when Virgil pops in wearing his old hoodie, the others realize they may have more issues that they need to work on than they thought.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N - You can now listen to this oneshot as an audio recording, read by me!   
> Chapter 1 - https: //youtu.be/PwtqR-I1DE8  
> Chapter 2 - https://youtu.be/OG1dsoMSeEk

“What is up everybody!”

Thomas started the vlog with high energy, as he always did, but then he grew more serious and somber. “So, today’s going to be a different, more serious video. Recently there’s been a... rumor going around about me, and I haven’t been sure how I should address it.”

He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “Guys, I could use you for this. Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil!” He called out, summoning his sides.

Patton popped up first, playing with the ends of the hoodie tied around his neck. “I’m sure everything will work out, kiddo!” He smiled brightly at Thomas, but based on the tight feeling in his chest, Thomas knew he was lying through his teeth. 

Roman rose up next, a pencil behind his ear and a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. “I’m working as fast as I can on a solution here Thomas! Just give me a little time!” He exasperated. 

Logan popped up last, holding a notebook and a pen in his hands. He glanced up at Thomas, surprised. “Ah, so this is where you went Roman.”

Thomas glanced between the two sides. “You two were working together?”

“In this scenario you’ve found yourself in, it is imperative that logic,” he gestured to himself, “is involved in developing a solution. However, it may be helpful to explain the situation to the audience, in your own words.”

Thomas puffed his cheeks out, blowing a strand of hair out of his face. “Sure, but... before that, where is Virgil? He should probably be up here too, I’m already nervous enough about the whole thing...”

“He’s probably just in his room and didn’t hear you call! Here, I’ll summon him!” Patton bounced on his toes and raised his hand to pull Virgil from the mindscape. 

Before he could make the motion, however, Virgil popped in out of nowhere like normal, but something was off. 

“You’re... wearing your old hoodie?” Logan asked, sounding incredulous. Virgil’s eyes widened, and he looked down and pulled on the fabric to get a better look. 

“I...uh... the newer one is... in the wash?” He volunteered quietly, raising eyebrows all around.

“You guys have to wash your clothes?” Thomas asked, confused. Roman shook his head as the others narrowed their eyes at “Virgil.”

“No, we don’t. Come on, this is sad, even for you.” Roman sighed. “First the old cardigan, and then the wrong tie, and now this? Really, why can’t you just show your face normally?” 

“Virgil” opened his mouth to argue, but Logan cut him off. “Yes, it really would be much faster if you were to just reveal yourself now and make your point.”

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about! It’s me, Virgil!” The anxious side insisted, waving his arms around and gesturing wildly at himself. 

“C’mon, it’s not good to lie to us. Why don’t you just reveal yourself, Deceit?”

“Virgil’s” eyes widened and his mouth gaped open. “You... you think I’m... I’m that... snake?!” He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth. “I’m serious, I just took my hoodie off and then you called and I panicked, ok?! That’s it! I’m not Deceit!” he hissed out, leading the others to roll their eyes.

“Sure, whatever you say.” Roman rolled his eyes, clearly not buying it. He turned back to Thomas, nodding towards him. “Well, it seems we aren’t going to get our favorite storm cloud to show up, so why don’t we just go on with the video?”

“Virgil’s” head whipped around to all the other sides, and his heart sank when he saw that all of them were avoiding his eyes, instead focusing on Thomas. 

“Go on Thomas, why don’t you explain what happened, and we’ll what we can do to help, ok?” Patton encouraged, hiding the hurt in his voice. Thomas took a deep breath and nodded, trying to push away the idea that Deceit was in their midst and that he was refusing to admit it this time. 

“So, last Saturday, I went out on a date with an amazing guy. We met recently and really hit it off, and so we went out for dinner and a movie.” Thomas was smiling, and a faint blush dusted his cheeks. “It was perfect... he really liked what I do, and he was super fun to talk to about his job too! And...” Thomas giggled, thinking about how the night had ended. 

Then his smile dropped, and he twisted his fingers together. “On Sunday, I got tagged in a Twitter post. Someone had... taken a couple pictures of us together that night.”

“So someone saw you together with a guy and now they think you’re dating someone, is it really that bad?” Patton asked innocently. 

“I, uh... it wouldn’t be, I don’t really mind the internet knowing when I’m in a relationship, it’s just that...”

“He’s not out to his parents yet, Patton. Telling everyone that they’re together would be... not ideal.” Roman explained, wincing.

“Not ideal is an understatement, Roman.” Logan interjected, not looking up from his notebook. “Thomas cannot confirm the rumors without forcefully outing this guy he went on a date with, and he cannot deny it because, well...”

Thomas pursed his lips. “They kinda caught a... candid moment...”

“Virgil” took a breath. “Did you ask him what he wanted to do?”

Thomas’s eyes flickered over for a moment. “I did... and he told me he would just deal with the consequences as they come. His parents aren’t online often, but his siblings are. Considering how fast rumors like these spread, they’re pretty likely to see it...”

“Well, we can’t lie! Could we just ignore it?” Patton insisted. 

“That’s the problem, padre. If we don’t tell everyone, they’ll think Thomas has been lying this whole time.” The anxious side told everyone. He’d curled in on himself, trying to shield himself from the overwhelming glares that are shot his way whenever he opened his mouth. 

Patton looked confused, and Logan finally looked up. “The guy that Thomas went on a date with, well, he’s still known as “she” by the rest of the world. Thomas is one of the first people he’s opened up to. For this to happen so suddenly...”

All the sides looked at each other, uncomfortable. “So, you’re saying that if Thomas doesn’t tell everyone the full truth... people will believe that he’s been lying about his sexuality for these last few years.”

Thomas swallowed hard, nodding. “I’ve already seen a lot of people pulling up my old posts about being bisexual...” It made him sick to his stomach. People were really so quick to believe he’d lied, for all this time, for what? Attention? Brownie points?

“Virgil” groaned. “Why can’t we just deny the photos? Report all the posts and get them taken down! Tell people it’s your personal life, and they have no right to nose into it!”

“Oh, now I’m certain we’re not talking to the real Virgil. He would never suggest confrontation as the solution!” Roman postered, staring “Virgil” down. 

“I am! This is causing Thomas to stress more than ever, it would just be better if it all went away!”

“We can’t just run away from our problems, Deceit. We need to face this head-on-”

“I AM NOT DECEIT!”

“Virgil’s” voice resonated deeply in all of their bones, drawing all eyes on him and freezing them in place. They wanted to open their mouths, to argue with him, to just get him to reveal himself so they could take this discussion seriously, damn it! 

“You called?”

~~~

Deceit crossed his arms, glancing around the room at all the shocked, frozen expressions. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Oh, was I not wanted at this very moment?”

Roman’s eyes were wide, and he was looking back and forth from Deceit to Virgil. “S-So, you weren’t really...”

‘Oh, by the way Virgil, you left this behind.” Deceit tossed something to Virgil, and he threw his arms up to protect himself. He found himself drowning in a very familiar hoodie, which he clutched at desperately. 

“Ah, so you stole Virgil’s hoodie to deceive us into believing he was you!” Roman accused, to which Deceit rolled his eyes. 

“He didn’t steal anything...” Virgil admitted softly, having ditched his old hoodie and tugged on the new one. 

“You said your hoodie was in the wash?” Logan asked.

“Yeah, well... I was cold, ok? And wearing my hoodie when it’s straight out of the dryer is comfy, so I put on my old one while it was going, ok?” Virgil was shrinking as he spoke, and the others felt horrible. Especially when Deceit started snickering.

“Ah, I see what happened here. Virgil, they didn’t think you were me, did they? Oh, that must have been terrible! I can’t even imagine what that must have felt like, having your words dismissed without even being considered.”

He had a conniving grin on his face, but his slitted eye’s pupil was narrowed. He gestured towards Virgil, offering what might be considered a kind hand if it were from anyone else. 

“I really do feel for you Virgil, that must be awful. Oh, but now that it’s all cleared up, you all can go back to your normal discussions, right? Unless you require my... talents, I think I’ll be going.”

Thomas broke free of the spell first, throwing an arm out towards Deceit before he could disappear. “Wait, Deceit!”

Deceit raised an eyebrow. 

“Since... since you’re here... you know what happened, right?” The snakelike side paused for a moment, examining him up and down. 

“You kissed your date and someone caught a photo of you, and now you’re debating the best way to deal with it without hurting his feelings.” He summarized succinctly, while sounding distant from the conversation.

Thomas nodded. “Do you... I mean, what do you think I should do?”

Deceit narrowed his eyes, trying to determine what he was playing at. “You... don’t really want my advice.” He said, not sure if he believed his words. 

“I want to consider them.”

That surprised him. Deceit straightened his shoulders, glancing over at Patton. “Feelings of others aren’t really my strong point. Why don’t you ask your morality, he should know!” he taunted. 

Deceit knew perfectly well that he did not know. None of them knew. He didn’t know either, though it wouldn’t do for any of them to know that. 

“What do you value more? The opinions of millions of anonymous individuals online, or the safety and comfort of your date?” He asked, as it was easier to turn the question back on Thomas than to try and come up with an answer himself. 

Thomas pursed his lips. “I don’t want him to think that he has to push himself to come out just because someone didn’t respect my private life. The pictures are blurry at best, and they’re always from behind him. His hair hides his face... So, if I don’t tell anyone... he doesn’t have to come out until he’s ready.”

Patton had an odd look on his face. “But... wouldn’t that mean you’d be lying to your fans?”

“Thinking logically, Thomas has more to lose if he forces his date out of the closet. Not addressing these rumors affects very little and there are only a select few who are insistent on believing Thomas has been lying to them. His most dedicated fans will not push Thomas on this matter, especially if he explains that he’d rather keep this part of his life private.”

“We can get the photos taken down, and tell people that we don’t want to talk about it.” Virgil added. 

“We wouldn’t be much of a knight in shining armor if we made them come out like this...” Roman mumbled. 

Deceit looked around at all of them. “Taking the responsibility onto yourself is only a temporary fix. Especially considering your precious little storm cloud isn’t likely to take this well.” He gestured to Virgil, who was already feeling the stress bubbling and churning in the pit of his stomach. He sneered at Deceit, not caring for him to point it out. 

Then the lying side looked down, pretending to inspect his nails through his gloves. “But... if you truly want to bear that, then I have nothing more to say to you.” A lie. Deceit had a million things to say to his host - he wanted to scold him for always bearing the burden. For taking this stress on himself, for breaking himself down so that others could stand on their own. 

 

But this was truly what he wanted. So, there wasn’t much Deceit could do. He hadn’t been wanted in this discussion, and had only appeared by a mere coincidence. None of the sides wanted him there... so he sunk out. Leaving Thomas to finish the video with the others - the main sides. The ones he actually took advice from. 

The parts of himself he actually embraced. 

Deceit took off down the hallway, his eyes adjusting to the shadows as he wandered the labyrinth that was the subconscious mindscape. 

They had really turned on Virgil. Just because he’d been wearing his old hoodie. Deceit smirked despite himself. How cruel was it that they were so scared of taking his words to heart, that they would so easily turn on one of their own. Was he really that frightful? 

The side shook his head, arriving at his room. He threw off his hat and gloves, tossing them on his desk and dropping heavy on his bed. The last thing he remembered was staring up at his artificial starry sky before a series of knocks at the door broke him out of his slumber.


	2. The Dark Hallway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas is left with lingering questions after Deceit leaves the discussion, and ends up splitting the Sides on the issue.

The sides were in shock as Deceit left the scene. There was an awkward silence that nearly burst their eardrums as they glanced around at each other.

Logan broke the silence, waving towards Virgil while his eyes were cast down. “Well, it seems we owe you an apology, Virgil. Perhaps we should have been more understanding.”

Virgil swallowed, then he caught the sound of sniffling and looked over in fear at Patton, who had his hands over his mouth and tears leaking down his cheeks. “Aw, c’mon Pops, it’s not that big of a--”

“It is a big deal! We weren’t listening to you at all, kiddo!” His voice broke and more tears fell. “We... we really thought you...” his words degraded into incoherent blubbering.

“That’s it! From now on, we should have a code word! Something we can say that Deceit would never be able to figure out! That way we’ll always know if he’s here or not--”

“No, Roman.” Thomas cut his creative side off, pursing his lips as the prince opened his mouth to make his point. “I don’t think that’s the solution.”

“That’s right, a code word is very easily cracked, we should come up with something a little more elaborate--”

“You guys are missing the point.” Thomas cut Logan off this time, and all four of his sides looked at him with varying levels of confusion. Virgil had a bad feeling in his gut, wanting to cover his ears so he didn’t have to hear Thomas’s next words. 

“We’re going about this wrong... Why would it be so bad to listen to Deceit, every once in a while? We don’t have to agree with what he’s saying, but... he’s a part of me, just like all of you. I... I don’t think he wants to hurt me.”

Patton had stopped blubbering, and was now wiping away his tears with the paws of his cat sweater. The fatherly side froze hearing what Thomas said. “But, Thomas... lying is wrong!”

“Patton...” Thomas sounded disappointed, upset even. Patton shrunk back like he’d been struck. 

“Patton’s right. You can’t trust Deceit. All he does is make your life harder, Thomas. We don’t need his advice. Us four are more than enough.” Virgil argued.

“Logically, more perspectives on the same issue would be better for Thomas. Deceit could bring some clarity to issues that the rest of us can’t. Like today, for example.” Logan told them, catching Virgil’s frown out of the corner of his eye. 

“You can’t just disagree with everything someone you don’t like says, Virgil.” Roman added, though the irony of the statement was not lost on him. 

Thomas looked back and forth between Virgil and Patton, both immensely uncomfortable. “Look, guys, I know you have your reasons for not... liking him. But... he’s a part of me, right? So, maybe, next time, we actually listen to what he says? There’s gotta be more to him than lying, right?”

“Well, you can count me out. If I have to deal with that snake for another second I...” Virgil huffed, he didn’t have the words. “I’ll see you later, Thomas.”

And with that, the anxious side sunk out. 

Thomas bit his lip. Was he really doing the wrong thing? His anxiety hated Deceit, and his morality objected to him. 

Patton smiled, though it was forced. “I’ll be going too, kiddo. I’ll make sure Virgil’s alright. Do the right thing, ok?” And then he was gone too. 

Thomas let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Logan, Roman... is this right? Should I push Deceit away like those two want me to?”

The two remaining sides shared a glance. “You know, Thomas, I don’t think so.” Roman comforted. “Patton and Virgil have their problems with him, but I personally like talking with Deceit sometimes. He’s very creative, you know.”

“Yes, and while he has hidden things from you in the past, I have no evidence to suggest that it was done maliciously. Though, I really don’t have any evidence at all...”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Leave it to you to try and analyze him, pocket protector.”

“I believe we may not fully understand Deceit’s purpose when it comes to Thomas.” Logan was fully in logical mode at this point, his thumb and first knuckle cradling his chin. Thomas smiled at the sight.

“Never change, Logan.”

Logan glanced up. “Hm?”

“Nevermind. Anyways, thank you guys. I’m gonna text him a bit more and figure out what to do about the photos. I feel a little better now, realizing all my options. Thanks!”

“No problem, Thomas! We were happy to help!” Roman flourished, and Logan hummed. 

“Call us again if you require our assistance.” Logan told him before sinking out, landing in the common room with Roman not far behind. 

Logan was preoccupied with writing in his notebook, migrating to sit in his armchair. Roman hovered nearby, unsure whether he should stay or leave Logan to whatever he was doing. 

“We should speak with him.” He said out of the blue, leaving Roman confused. 

“Um, who?”

Logan sighed, pushing his glasses up as he rubbed his eyes. “Deceit.”

“Are you sure? The others might get mad--”

“We are not going to get anywhere with this situation if we let it fester. Clearly Thomas would be better off if we could at least make an attempt to include Deceit, and I feel as though-- oh, just listen to me, I feel speaking to him will be the most direct way to communicate our intentions.”

Roman ran his fingers through his hair. “But Logan... he _is_ a liar. And we’ve made it clear in the past that we didn’t like him or want him around. Why would he believe us when we say we’ve changed our minds?”

Logan snapped his notebook shut, standing up and looking Roman in the eyes. “We won’t know where we stand until we try. Now, are you coming with me or not?”

The prince only had to think about it for a moment before he followed the logical side down the dark hallway that lead to Virgil’s room. They’d never gone past his doorway, but they knew that the dark side of Thomas’s mind laid beyond. And that was where they needed to go.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment and subscribe!  
> You can talk to me on tumblr! @dragonsaphirareads


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